On course at Mont Sainte Anne: Part 1

Sasha & I are in Mont Sainte Anne this week taking our level 4 Instructors course. Located about 8 hours north-east of Toronto or about 3 hours north of Montreal, Ste Anne is a great proving ground for instructors looking to achieve skiing’s equivalent of a kung fu black belt – the level 4.

We spent our first day working on ski improvement and skiing mostly on the front side (or the steep side) of the mountain. With over 2 feet of fresh snow on the ground from the last 24hrs, the conditions were fantastic.

The focus of day one was ski improvement and focusing on being effecient while skiing at high speeds through the bumps. The highlight of the day was being video tapped skiing 4 metre turns (which is a bit longer than short radius) through a corridor of moguls as defined by brushes that were drilled into the snow down one of the hill faces.

It was a great first day and a great start to what looks like a fantastic week on snow. We’ve both received some positive and constructive feedback on our skiing and feel confident that we can both make other positive improvements over the week.

We’re also grateful to have a fun and talented group of skiers to ski with and a course conductor who is among the best in Canada – Sandy Gardner. He commented during the day that everybody in our group was capable of passing their level 4.

Sasha & I are excited & focused to take this journey!